This is a beautifully illustrated picture book about a potter in the mid-1800's in South Carolina. Since this artist, some of whose work has survived to the present day, was also a slave, this deceptively simple book works on many levels. Young kids will enjoy hearing how the clay was shaped into pots; older kids will be fascinated by the life of an artist who wasn't permitted the dignity of his own last name. It would be a marvelous part of an art unit on pottery, or a history lesson on life before the Civil War.